I don't like to pick on my little brother. I harassed him enough when he was a child -- now that he is a grown, married man I've tried my best to stop teasing him mercilessly.

It's hard.

This Thanksgiving he bought a brand new cell phone, although his old cell phone works perfectly. His old phone? Not the coolest on the market, not bluetooth compatible, not an MP3 player, but 100% functional.

I wanted to give him a hard time, but I said nothing. I even had to agree with him on the quality of the new phone's camera. It's top notch.

But, it did get me thinking about how often we (as in most people) buy things to replace other things that are in fine working order.

I, for instance, want a new television. Mine is small and old. I won't buy one ... not until this one has died of old age, but that doesn't mean that, in the past, I haven't done just what my brother did last weekend.

We buy things we don't need. We buy duplicates of things we don't need and then toss the first thing we didn't need into the trash.

So, I'm promising myself (especially during the holiday season -- as all my friends and family ask me "What do you want for Christmas?") -- that I'm going to think long and hard about what I truly need. And try even harder to be happy with what I've got.